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14 Apr 2011

Helen Reef and Helen island

Our anchorage is acceptable considering its holding power. The bottom is not really smooth, nor is it all sand as we discover when we leave. The boat had wrapped the anchor chain around a coral head. So, occasionally we heard some unpleasant scratching sounds, but the advantage is that we are not only held by our anchor. During one heavy shower in the middle of the night with gusts of 35 knots and above we did not drag a millimetre. The anchorage is enclosed by reefs, which break all the waves to manageable heights. The view from the mast is spectacular.

When we take the dinghy to Helen island we notice a sharp change in depth to no more than a meter about half way. Further on, there is another step and we traverse a large sand bar, which more or less dries at low tide. Our inflatable dinghy will not float with us in it at low tide, so we have to coordinate our visits with the state of the tide. This shallow sand bar was not so long ago part of the island: Helen island has shrunk dramatically in recent years. More about that later.
The island is inundated by nesting seabirds. The small terns encountered even in the middle of the ocean, congregate here en masse to lay their eggs.

To be precise: one egg. This egg is not kept warm, but rather shaded from the hot sun. There are so many birds, that those not involved with eggs or fishing swarm around the island in a big cloud. A noisy, screeching cloud, day and night. We don't mind that we are anchored at a distance from Helen island. When the flat little island is not visible at night, you can clearly hear where it is. Besides the nesting sea birds, the island is also popular with the green sea turtles, who lay and bury their eggs in the sand.

We watch three turtles, while we are only around early in the evening. The green backs lay eggs throughout the year and new turtles hatch throughout the year too. Now and then the four care takers (conservation officers) catch the baby turtles and fatten them up a bit, before letting them go after a week or two. Their survival rates increase considerably when they are bigger and stronger.

The turtles only come ashore after sunset and during high tide. They bulldozer right through the nesting sea birds, while searching for a good spot for digging a hole for their eggs. Unavoidable, as the birds and eggs are everywhere. The care takers assure us that the overcrowding gets worse in a month's time, when a third type of sea bird arrives and every square meter is in use for nesting, right up to the houses of the care takers. And the turtles keep coming as well. Helen island is overpopulated by reproducing animals. The reason: in a couple of years time, this sand island has shrunk to less than a quarter of its original size. The two large shallow sandy areas on either side of the island used to be above water not too long ago. The rising sea levels due to Global Warming and a caretaker with pyromaniac tendencies are to blame. This care taker decided six years ago, that it was a good thing to get rid of the rats and ants on the island. His method was to burn the thick layer of grasses, that covered the island. The man had talent (he was known to have burned down other things as well) and the fire was a big success. No grass was left and a number of the trees and all the coconut trees also died, but the rats and ants were exterminated. The operation was successful but the patient almost died. The bare sand island that remained had no protection left against wind and waves and lost a large part of its land area. This care taker was dismissed, but the damage was done.
The current group of care takers try to get more vegetation, grasses and coconut palms (from washed ashore coconuts) in a desperate attempt to save the island. They managed to get the grasses growing again. The coconut palms will take a lot longer.
The rising sea level exacerbates the situation. At king tides (extreme high tides a few times a year) the water now reaches the houses of the care takers, while higher waves wash across the width of the island. A few centimetres of sea level increase can already be too much for such a low lying sand island as Helen island. Not only lowers it the island by the same amount, the barrier reef around the atoll will be a bit lower too and bigger waves will pass into the lagoon. During our two week stay we saw that a meter of the width of the island disappeared on the south side, while on the north side the island got higher (dune formation) but not wider.
Helen island should not disappear in the waves, because a) an important bird breeding area will be lost and, more importantly, b) the greenback turtles cannot lay their eggs any more. There are no alternative beaches anywhere in the neighbourhood for these endangered animals, who would probably not use these alternatives anyway (turtles do not seem very intelligent). There are a few more islands where they lay their eggs, put the turtle population of Helen is by far the largest. The disappearance of Helen island combined with the turtle consumption in Indonesia, may well spell the end of this turtle species in this part of the world.
American marine biologists have proposed spouting sand to restore Helen island to its original size (and a bit more height), but up to now no funds have been found for it. The chance for somebody with an affinity to turtles and tropical beaches who happens to have a few hundred thousands in spare cash, to do something useful with the money, which leaves a visible result.
The main task of the caretakers is labelling and documenting the egg laying turtles. Not very difficult, but time consuming, because a turtle can only be approached when she has done her duty (dig a hole, lay eggs, cover the hole). On some nights four or five turtles come ashore anywhere on the island (each greenback turtle lays 3 or 4 clutches of eggs in about a month time) and then it is a rush from one to the next to keep an eye on the proceedings. During the day they have time to spare (unless they need to catch up on sleep) and plenty of time is spend on showing us the under water world of Helen reef and catching a lot of fish at the same time.

This atoll has many coral areas suitable for snorkelling, but for diving you have to go to the outside of the barrier reef and sadly we do not have the equipment for that. The diving gear stays in its locker and we snorkel in several places. We have bought a cheap chinese underwater camera and take pictures and video. It works although we find the colours in the photos a bit colourless.

Hanneke surprises our hosts a few times with Thai fish curry, which everybody enjoys, while Joop leaves everybody astounded at the amount of fish he can eat and eat and eat.
We do some jobs on the boat (always repairs) and after 14 wonderful days at Helen island, the lagoon and reef we are ready for departure.